Tekno and Wizkid turn motivational preachers on Mama

On first listen, the song ‘Mama’ is a sort of tribute to their mums—but the song is really about the men themselves, their success and how that success may inspire the listener.

Although it comes with elements of highlife, ‘Mama’ also cleverly references Afrobeat. If one of the major components of Afrobeat music is the horn section, ‘Mama’ uses a metaphorical equivalent: “Right now, I don dey blow like trumpet,” they sing before launching into a vocal “pa-ra-ran”. If it is clever, it is also a cheap approximation of Afrobeat, but then this is pop music. If it works, it works.

There is further working on the theme when Wizkid says, “I don’t mean to blow my trumpet.” This is typical Wizkid. He goes with the easiest, laziest rhyme but through the magic of his delicious vocal phrasing transforms cliched constructions to melodious music.

At the base of the success of both Wizkid and Tekno is their connection with the broad base of Nigerians. And it is clear why they are popular with their fanbase from the hook:

You go blow like trumpet
You go fire like rocket
The only way we fly na private
We no dey sh*t for public toilet

On the one hand, there is the extreme luxury of private jets; on the other, there is the simple idea of not using a public toilet. If one feels far-fetched for a certain income class, the other is compensation. And the lines are sung with the cadence of a church blessing. (Notice how, in the manner of a modern pastor’s spiel, the hook employs the ambiguous singular or plural pronoun “you” to form both an idea of community and of uniqueness.) With those features, the song connects to the aspirational dreams of a large percentage of the Nigerian population.

Clearly the song is more Tekno’s. For one, it follows Tekno’s method of naming a song after a single word: From ‘Holiday’ to ‘Pana’ to ‘Go’, Tekno has stylised single words into abrupt titles.

I used to think those single words were merely convenient tags for Tekno. Now, I think of them as extensions of the simplicity of his verses: his lyrical technique is based on the memorable and humorous charms of the simple line. Who can forget “Cassava for two…all for you” or “Na you dey catch my shot”? Tekno is, of course, the better songwriter of the two. Where Wizkid cuts and pastes some of his lines from ‘Ojulegba’, Tekno turns motivational and introspective—even if he has never belonged to the public toilet demographic at any point in his life.

In any case, it is hard to think of any other pop artist in Nigeria who gives line-by-line pleasure as frequently as Tekno. It is what has kept him in the conversation in a pop space saturated with the songs of Wizkid and Davido for five years. But even he has had not quite stellar moments. Since ‘Yawa’, Tekno has delivered inferior songs—‘Be’, ‘Samantha’ and ‘Go’—but with ‘Mama’, he has reclaimed the powers that yielded his remarkable run of a hit quartet of songs ‘Pana’, ‘Rara’, ‘Diana’ and 'Yawa'.

For Wizkid, whose album Sounds from the Other Side was less an artistic statement than an American marketing gimmick, ‘Mama’ recalls his magnum opus ‘Ojuelegba’. It reminds local fans that he can still tap into the spirit that produced his better songs.

It matters then that these men, who not long ago quarrelled on Twitter, have collaborated on a song that could have collapsed from the egos of their makers. The beat may be too slow and contemplative to be a party starter, but in the post-Eazi and Juls world of West African pop music, even that is possible. Whatever the case, ‘Mama’ advertises the better qualities of Tekno and Wizkid. It tells listeners that these two figures of Nigerian pop might be on radio for quite some time.

Buy Mama by Tekno and Wizkid on iTunes

Artist: Tekno x Wizkid
Song: Mama
Label, Year: Made Men Music Group, 2017